Teeside University took the spoils on Wednesday afternoon in a close-fought affair as Team Sunderland battled hard in a 3-2 loss.

Team Sunderland suffered an unfortunate 3-2 defeat in a closely fought match. Sunderland lead a confident approach from the whistle and their early pressure paid off from a superb lofted through ball from Sunderland’s No.50 which was neatly flicked over the rushing Teesside keepers head and slotted home by No. 58 to give Sunderland the 1-0 lead after 3 minutes.

From the early goal, it knocked up the intensity of Teesside’s play. Teesside piled on the pressure immediately and looked to draw level as quick as possible. However, Sunderland’s defence kept knocking Teesside’s attacks backwards.

26 minutes in and Teesside’s efforts nearly paid off and hit the woodwork from a well worked move on the left-hand side of the pitch after poor defending from Sunderland’s right back. Eventually, the ball was cleared for a Teesside corner.

However, the equaliser came from this Teesside corner as it was cleared poorly to the edge of the box and Teesside’s No.8 struck a half volley, clean and low and a slight deflection meant it snuck into the bottom left corner.

For the remainder of the first half, Teesside’s confidence grew and looked to go ahead before the half time whistle. 31 minutes played, and a long-distance effort looked like it was heading for the back of the net until Sunderland’s keeper pulled off an excellent save.

After the interval, Teesside kept up the intensity and it made an instant impact as 48 minutes in the referee awarded a freekick on the edge of the box and booked Sunderland’s no.60. However, it looked to be a soft yellow card. The freekick was then slammed off the woodwork.

However, Teesside’s constant pressing on the Sunderland’s defence, they eventually broke through on 51 minutes making it 2-1.

For a large portion of the second half, Teesside seemed to dominate possession but did not create enough chances through team Sunderland’s work ethic. The second goal seemed to knock some confidence out of the Sunderland team and it needed a strong team mentality to find an equaliser.

Eventually, against the run of play, another lofted through ball caused Teesside’s high defensive line to be caught off guard and the Sunderland striker did some impressive hold up play to win a corner as there was lack of support from the Sunderland midfielders. The corner was a dangerous ball into the box which found a Sunderland midfielder to squeeze the ball past the keeper to make it 2-2 with 15 minutes left to play.

From the equaliser, space started to appear for both sides as fatigue came in to play. It quickly became an end to end finish with chances being missed by both teams. However, the referee awards a controversial penalty after a 50/50 challenge was won by the Teesside attacker which angered the Sunderland players.

The penalty was confidently struck and left the keeper stood still as it found the bottom right corner to make the final score of 3-2 Teesside.